


Not Long Ago, Right Here

by HandmaidenOfHorror



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Character Interpretation, Alternate Universe - Character Swap, Alternate Universe - Historical, Dark Rey (Star Wars), Edo Period, Gen, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 03:48:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18563308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HandmaidenOfHorror/pseuds/HandmaidenOfHorror
Summary: What if the events of the Original Trilogy were propaganda written by the Rebellion?What if Rey was Leia and Han's daughter and a princess?What if Rey fell to the Dark Side?What if the setting of Star Wars was Edo period Japan?What if slavery was never outlawed and persisted in Japan?This story is a mixture of the five what ifs.





	Not Long Ago, Right Here

**Author's Note:**

> Despite being nominally set in Edo period, this story takes place in a fantasy version of Japan, where events diverged from our world's much earlier. When the story opens, it is only nominally Edo period, as the events take place at the tail end of Meiji era. Names of characters are explained in the notes at the end of the chapter.

The history of her family is one of earliest bedtime tales princess Reiko hears. Her grandmother, noble empress Amidara, crushed the white devils who tried to force Japan to open her borders and gained universal adoration by the people of Japan.

At the same time, in a whim of fancy, the empress took a boy slave and had him trained as her personal guard. However, she eventually fell in love with the boy, which proved a fatal mistake, as decades later the slave betrayed her to her uncle, who after ascension as emperor made him his shogun, the dreaded Kuratou.

Aided by loyal samurai, empress flew to Ezo, where in Goryoukaku fortess she gave birth to twins, a prince and a princess, fathered by Kuratou before he revealed his true face.

Knowing that her uncle would kill the boy, she had her loyal follower flee with him to the north, claiming to arriving forces that he died soon after being born, and presenting a handmaiden’s stillborn baby as a proof.

The empress abdicated and was allowed to live with princess Reiya in her palace until death, which happened six years later, poisoned by emperor’s order, the rumor says.

Years passed, turning into decades. As emperor had Kuratou fighting foreign enemies, he overlooked an unrest raising inside the country. A rebellion started in Ezo, with a young hero quickly raising as its star, Kuuho, the boy who walked on air. Joined by Amidara loyalists and princess Reiya herself,  the rebellion overthrew the corrupt emperor, killing him and Kuratou, both deeds rumored to have been performed by Kuuho himself.

Kuuho the hero. Kuuho, ronin of the people. Kuuho, the long lost twin of Reiya. But, asked little Reiko, why isn’t he emperor and not my mother if he was a war hero of royal blood? Nobody wanted to answer this question. And, as she grew older, she realized that there are many more questions nobody wanted to answer.

Who was Kuratou? Where did he come from? What was his name before he became the shogun? No matter where she looked, she couldn’t find out, as if the name, the very person was intentionally erased from the archives. Who did it and why? The princess gradually became obsessed by her grandfather.

One night, Reiko had a dream in which she visited a farm in deep Ezo. She could move freely, like a ghost, not being seen or heard by the people living there, a boy her age named Anakin and his mother. The dream repeated next night, and then the next. Reiko knew it was not usual and she should tell adults, but she was curious about the boy slave (her dreams made her despise slavery).

One night, the dream was different: there was a samurai with his page, talking about Anakin, and later a young lady entered. The conversation continued, and Reiko realized – she wasn’t visiting a family in Ezo, she was seeing the past of her grandfather and grandmother.

After this, the dreams stopped. Reiko was upset that she cannot learn more about the man the world is bent on forgetting, but she also felt glad that she has time to make peace with her newfound knowledge.

Weeks passed.

Reiko talked about ending slavery. To empress Reiya, to her father consort Han, to her uncle prince Kuuho, to anyone who would listen, but nobody did. Eventually, her mother allowed her to go to the slave market and free a reasonable number of slaves sold there.

Reiko went assisted by not only samurai guards, but also Kuuho. The girl’s uncle’s presence made her feel uneasy – what was he thinking? The man has always frightened her. The legend surrounding him was too good to be true, and the bits that were absent from her childhood stories worried her the most. The group met with excessive adoration as they went, but under that the girl caught a glimpse of barely hidden fear.

When they arrived, the slaves were paraded before the princess as if they were things and not people. The sight was horrifying, but Reiko had to endure. It is was so terrible to see, how terrible must it have been to be treated like that? Then, she was presented with a group of foreign children, two boys and two girls. The seller informed her that they were brought by Black Ships and exchanged for supplies. The princess made up her mind.

She felt relief. The children will be brought to the court, bathed, cleaned, educated, treated like any other courtier. Her uncle’s words brought her back to reality.

“This one has potential. I will take him for a page.”

What? Reiko stared at the darkest of the strange-looking children. Uncle Kuuho has never taken pages before, why this sudden reaction? Can it be true that uncle can use and sense magic?

She felt uneasy the whole way back to the palace.

That night, she had another dream of her grandfather. But the dream was different. Unstable. She had trouble seeing details, and sounds were sometimes clear, sometimes distorted. Firstly, she saw her grandfather saying a tearful goodbye to his mother and leaving her, as Amidara in her handmaiden disguise waited outside. And then, the image shifted.

The second part of the dream took part in a completely different place, a forest, at night. Young couple, man and woman, were sitting by the fire. They must have been Anakin and Amidara, now adult, many years in the future. Anakin was talking fast, visibly distressed, his robes covered in dried blood.

While Reiko initially couldn’t understand his words, she eventually pierced the situation together: Anakin’s mother, still a slave, was kidnapped by Ainu people, and when Anakin found her, she was already dying from an illness. Out of rage, her grandfather killed everyone in the village, men and women, children and elderly alike.

The shock from the realization woke Reiko up.

She should have expected it, it was Kuratou after all. Yet, he didn’t seem like what he heard of him. He killed in despair after losing a precious person. And, most strangely, Amidara herself didn’t seem disgusted by the young man’s actions.

Reiko needed to know full story. Perhaps the rest of it will be shown to her in further dreams.

**Author's Note:**

> Names explained:
> 
> 阿弥陀羅 - Amidara/Amidala (almost literal transliteration, refers to Buddha Amida)  
> 暗父 - Kuratou/Darth Vader (refers to the "dark father" pun)  
> 零箭 - Reiya/Leia (lit. zero point, referring to Leia's importance for the rebellion)  
> 空歩 - Kuuho/Luke (lit. skywalker)  
> 零子 - Reiko/Rey (daughter of Reiya/Leia)  
> 犯/範 - Han (the first kanji means criminal and was used as nickname for the character; last susbstituted by a kanji meaning example or model)
> 
> Edit: I have lost all inspiration to continue this story. I am very sorry for those excited for what will happen next.


End file.
